Seahawks turn to practice squad with both starting safeties out against Commanders

The Seattle Seahawks are on the road in Week 3, set to take on the Washington Commanders in the first 10am Pacific Time start of the year for the Hawks.

Compounding the difficulty of the matchup for Seattle is a wave of injuries to the back end of the secondary.

Pro Bowl safety Julian Love will miss the game due to a calf injury, while Ty Okada is out due to a hamstring that has kept him off the field for the duration of the first month of the season. Add in that second year man Nick Emmanwori is still working his way back from offseason ankle surgery, and the Seahawks will certainly be thin at safety for this matchup.

Thus, on Saturday afternoon the team turned to the practice squad and elevated Maxen Hook for the Week 3 showdown against the Commanders.

Former Indianapolis Colts safety Rodney Thomas is likely to start for the third straight week. Signed in free agency during the offseason, Thomas spent the first two weeks of the season on the practice squad before moving to the active roster on Wednesday.

Nick Emmanwori and A.J. Finley were the only other healthy safeties on the roster ahead of the elevation of Hook, who is now in line to see the first regular season action of his career. Undrafted out of Toledo in 2025, he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, but failed to make the roster out of training camp before signing with the Seahawks practice squad in October.

The Seahawks also elevated running back Velus Jones, providing depth on special teams and in the backfield, and now it’s on to the pregame inactives.